Parish history

The Parish dedicated to St. Sergius, Hiegumen of Radonezh and of all Russia was founded as a result of the decision of the Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church on December, 29th, 1998.

Initially the Parish operated from a small house at 106 Eastbourne Road, Carlswald, 1685 Midrand, where a house church with regular services was arranged. The professor of the St.-Petersburg Theological academyArchpriest Sergey Rasskazovsky was appointed by the Holy Synod as the first Rector. He organized the Russian Orthodox community, found a suitable site for the construction of a church, and also initiated fund raising for the purchase of a site. By September, 2000, the ground site has been bought in Midrand, a suburb of Johannesburg, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria and a St.-Petersburg architect, Jury Kirs, was appointed to design and oversee the construction of both the Church and the Church Complex.

In February, 2000 Hieromonk Philaret (Bulekov) was appointed to the post of the Rector and started the Church construction.
On December, 15th, 2001 the first stone was laid. This solemn ceremony took place in the presence of Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Igor Ivanov. With the sponsorship of Russian company “Stroytransgaz”, all-round support of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of South Africa, the personal participation of Ambassadors of the Russian Federation, Vadim Lukov and Andrey Kushakov, the donations of numerous parishioners and the diligence of the Parish Rector father Philaret (Bulekov), the basic construction of the Church and Church Complex was completed by March, 2003.